The Most Shocking Reveal of the Season 6 Premiere Episode Was...Subtly?
I have been a longtime fan of American Horror Story since its first season in 2011. I was initially interested in the show because it was the brainchild of the same skillful minds that created Glee. Yes, correct, dear reader, I am a Ryan Murphy fan. If you don't know who Ryan Murphy is, then why the hell are you reading a blog about film and television in 2016?
American Horror Story reinvents itself each year, generating a new horror story from the greatest country on earth, especially when you're looking for a history of horrible choices, God Bless America. It assembles more or less the same core cast who return each year to play new characters in a brand new setting each season. The show's seasons also center on a different theme each year. Now some people seem to be confused by this, the theme of each season is not the same as the setting or plot. We'll get back to this distinction later.
The show has gotten flack over the last few seasons for losing its way in the middle. Story arcs seem to be promisingly built up in the beginning only to deflate and disperse by the season's conclusion. Graphic sexual images often take the place of character developing moments. Great performances are often lost amid the campiness the show has come to be known infamously for. These flaws are not unnoticed by viewers like myself, they're simply forgiven because where the show fails in one area, it exceedingly succeeds in another, such as sustaining viewer attention and generating a top-quality cast and set.
This year the creative team behind the show decided to try something drastically different in terms of marketing. It kept the general plot and theme of the sixth season a complete secret; using teaser trailers as red herrings to delight and infuriate fans over who could guess what horrific story the show was going to tell next. Now back to the distinction, I wanted to make between the theme, the plot and the setting. The latter two are what the ad campaigns have been making us try and decipher. What is the story going to be, and where is it going to be set? The theme of each season is the approach or overall morality tale the writers wish to invoke within the narrative of the episodes. For example, last season's theme was "addiction" which was an ideal fit to accompany the usage of vampires into the Hotel Cortez's storyline; their bloodlust representing their drug of choice. It is unclear by the end of the first episode what the "theme" of this current season will be; I fear the writers may have forgotten this important story device but will pay close attention as the season progresses to see if one does surface.
Well, last night the show aired its first episode and what a surprise it was, though perhaps not the kind of surprise we'd been expecting as regular viewers. Season's six's premiere is shocking, not with violent imagery or depraved sexual acts, but rather shocking in its subtly! Now don't be misunderstood, there are sex and violence in the first episode, but not to the usual degree that AHS has grown us accustomed. Instead of throat slashing or rubber suit sodomizing, we get near-hot tub -drowning's and a weather report of well - a chance of teeth. The horror comes steady, but gives us time to breathe and percolate between scenes so we can fully digest what we as a viewer are being presented. This was the first opening episode to an AHS Season in a long time that didn't visually assault or exhaust my retinas. It intrigued without trying so damn hard to be intriguing! It gave questions, as opposed to elaborate overdrawn exposition.
This year the term "reinvention" couldn't apply more to the show's format. Season 6 is constructed as a sort of true-crime television series special; you know the kind your parents watch on Sundays after dinner? Three actors play fictional victims telling their stories to the camera, while other stars play those characters in "reenactments" of the terrifying events they described. This may seem confusing on paper, but narrative-wise it flowed quite seamlessly into the first episode, which started and ended with quite a jolt of adrenaline! This season shows a troubled couple (Sarah Paulson and Cuba Gooding Jr) moving into a beautifully renovated farmhouse in rural North Carolina. There they are deprived of neighbors, or so they think. Something is living alongside them within the forest trees, a real-life horror story that will no doubt be fictionalized to dazzling extravagance by Murphy and his talented creative team in upcoming episodes. If you want to know what kind of real-life horror it is, just punch the word "Roanoke" into your computer's search engine.
How did the American Horror Story writing team come up with such a satisfying premise for their sixth season? I couldn't say for sure. What I can say is it seems they borrowed from past seasons in order to create a freshly reinvigorated concept for this one. Here are some examples of similarities:
- Troubled married couple moving into a new home (Season 1: Murder House)
- Biracial couple (Season 2: Asylum)
- Humorous moments for levity (Season 3: Coven)
- Entrancing visual landscape (Season 4: Freak Show)
- Inventive twists on common horror tropes (Season 5: Hotel)
This does not mean that the show is being repetitive or relying on old material; on the contrary, it is doing what good television should do, paying attention to viewers attractions! Sometimes good television and filmmaking are as easy as serving the audience what they asked for in the first place. Since fans have been complaining about the overtly convoluted plots that plagued the last few seasons, it seems the makers of the show are finally taking a listen, serving them a story that is terrifying and novice without being unfamiliar or redundant in comparison to previous incarnations. Cohesive like Season 1, but distinctly different from any other that followed.
I have high expectations for this coming season, which many current and former fans of the show will find me foolish for having. American Horror Story is nothing if not entertainingly enticing with its talented repertoire of competent actors and actresses and devilishly delicious storytelling. It is this millennium's Twilight Zone with maybe not quite the punch, but plenty of the pizazz. Keep the faith always because "once good" television has the potential to become "newly great" television, especially in a program that specializes in reinventing and rebooting its look and style each year. Bring on the horror; we're just dying to see what comes next!
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